The main purpose of the Act Amending the Value Added Tax Act (ZDDV-1J) is to transpose into national law the provisions of Council Directive (EU) 2016/1065 of 27 June 2016 relating to the treatment of vouchers and certain provisions of Council Directive (EU) 2017/2455 of 5 December 2017 concerning VAT obligations in the provision of telecommunications, broadcasting or electronically supplied services (TOE services). Furthermore, some other administrative barriers are eliminated and some minor simplifications introduced as well.

The main objectives of the proposed amendment are:

• elimination of tax mismatches between Member States and the delineation between vouchers and innovative payment systems in order to ensure the neutrality of taxation;
• simplifying the rules for charging and paying VAT and issuing invoices for TOE services if they are provided to non-taxable persons in other Member States;
• allowing persons not established within the Union but registered for VAT purposes in a Member State to make use of the special mini-one-stop-shop scheme (mini OSS);
• eliminating administrative burdens in certain cases regarding the notification of the tax authority or, that is to say, the abolition of submitting an application regarding options to tax certain transactions; 
• setting of a fixed interest rate for submitting a VAT return correction or its submission by means of the self-disclosure institute before the initiation of certain procedures of the tax authority;
• prolongation of the application of the reverse charge mechanism for supplies related to the transfer of greenhouse gas emission allowances.

Adopted Amendments

1. Vouchers

The adopted amendments define the concept and types of vouchers, and determine the time when the obligation to levy VAT is incurred and the tax base for individual types of vouchers.

A voucher means an instrument where there is an obligation to accept it as consideration or part consideration for a supply of goods or services and where the goods or services to be supplied or the identities of their potential suppliers are either indicated on the instrument itself or in related documentation, including the terms and conditions of use of such instrument.

Only vouchers which can be used for redemption against goods or services should be targeted by these rules. However, instruments entitling the holder to a discount upon purchase of goods or services but carrying no right to receive such goods or services should not be targeted by these rules.

Two types of vouchers are defined:

• single-purpose voucher:  means a voucher where the place of supply of the goods or services to which the voucher relates, and the VAT due on those goods or services, are known at the time of issue of the voucher;
• multi-purpose voucher: means a voucher other than a single-purpose voucher.

Single-purpose voucher

The obligation to charge VAT on a single-purpose voucher occurs when it is transferred by a taxable person acting in his own name. Such transfers shall be regarded as the supply of goods or services. The actual handing over of the goods or the actual provision of the services in return for a single-purpose voucher accepted as consideration or part consideration by the supplier shall not be regarded as a independent transaction.

If the supplier of goods or service and the issuer of the single-purpose voucher are not one and the same taxable person, the supplier shall be deemed to have supplied the goods to the issuer of the voucher.

Multi-purpose voucher

In contrast to the multi-purpose voucher, the obligation to charge VAT on a multi-purpose voucher does not arise upon its transfer, but only upon the actual handing over of the goods or the actual provision of the services in return for a multi-purpose voucher accepted as consideration or part consideration by the supplier for that supply or provision.

In the case of a multi-purpose voucher, the consideration for the voucher constitutes the tax base for the supply of goods or services. In the absence of such information, the tax base shall be the monetary value shown on the voucher itself, which is reduced by the value of VAT paid for the supply of goods or services.

2. Telecommunications, broadcasting or electronically supplied services (TOE services)

In order to relieve the burden on small micro-businesses occasionally or to a lesser extent supplying TOE services to consumers in other Member States, a threshold in the amount of EUR 10,000 of turnover (in the current and previous calendar year) for determining the place of taxation shall be introduced, below which the place of taxation shall be deemed Slovenia if the supplier is established or, in the absence of an establishment, has his permanent address or usually resides there, and if the service recipient is from a Member State other than Slovenia.

In this way, it is possible for businesses, in case their supply is small, not to incur additional costs associated with compliance with VAT rules in other Member States of consumption of their services, either by applying the mini OSS scheme or by direct registration for VAT purposes in all Member States of consumption.

For reasons of simplification, the Slovene suppliers of these services will now issue invoices in accordance with ZDDV-1

Furthermore, the amendment allows persons not established within the Union but registered for VAT purposes in a Member State to make use of the special mini OSS scheme. Consequently, the obligation of these taxpayers to register in all the other Member States in which they provide these services will be abolished.

3. Elimination of certain other administrative burdens

To facilitate cooperation between taxpayers and the tax authority, the following will no longer be necessary:

1. Declaration regarding the selection of the taxation of real estate transactions according to Article 45 ZDDV-1

The submission of the statement is no longer necessary, however, at the request of the tax authority, the two taxpayers must prove the existence of a prior written agreement on the taxation of a real estate transaction. The agreement itself still remains mandatory.

2. Informing the tax authority regarding the choice of taxing investment gold

Informing the tax authority regarding the choice of taxing investment gold will no longer be necessary. The right to tax is maintained.

3. Deductible portions

In the event that the taxpayer did not have any transactions in the previous year or they were insignificant, he is no longer obliged to submit forecasts of the envisaged transactions to the tax authority, but may himself determine the provisional deductible portion on the basis of data on the envisaged transactions.

Similarly, it is no longer necessary for a taxpayer to declare separate deductible portions for a particular area of activity, but it is sufficient that he himself determines the deductible portions separately for each area of his activity. In spite of the abolishment of the notification, the taxpayer must keep separate accounts for each area of activity. This method of calculating the deductible portion must be used for at least 12 months.

4. Registration of levying VAT under a special arrangement for taxable resellers

Only the formal condition (registration submission) is abolished, all substantive criteria remain valid.

4. Harmonization of the provisions on the level of interest rates with the Slovene Tax Procedure Act (ZDavP-2)

In the case of a correction of errors in a VAT return and the submission of a VAT return on the basis of self-disclosure, at the latest until the start of a tax inspection, the delivery of the notice of assessment or the initiation of proceedings for a financial penalty or criminal proceedings, it is set the annual fixed interest rate of 3%. The submitted calculation after the expiration of the statutory period shall be considered self-disclosure if the taxpayer pays the VAT not shown to a sufficient extent in the VAT return and 3% of the annual interest simultaneously with the submission of a VAT return on the basis of self-disclosure. In this case no default interest is paid.

If the taxpayer does not pay the insufficiently shown tax and interest, the default interest is charged for the period from the payment deadline until the tax is paid in accordance with Article 96 of ZDavP-2 (0,0274% daily interest rate).

5. Prolongation of the application of the reverse charge mechanism for the transfer of greenhouse gas emission allowances

As the reverse charge measure for the transfer of greenhouse gas emission allowances (Article 76.a Point e ZDDV-1) has proven to be effective in combating VAT fraud in this sector, it was decided at EU level to extend this provisional measure. Slovenia also extended the measure by means of ZDDV-1J until 30 June 2022.

Entry into force and application

The National Assembly of the RS adopted amendments to the VAT Act (ZDDV-1J) on 20 November 2018. The Act took effect on 1 December 2018. The date of application of the amendment is 1 January 2019.